Day One was 65 miles.  I know it doesn’t sound like much but it took 9 hours!  Not exactly a speed boat.  We arrived at our planned anchorage at 1530 only to discover that the pedals on the windlass (the winch that lowers and raises the 110lb anchor and chain) wasn’t working, even though I tested it.  I knew the pedals were problematic as they have “clicked” before – meaning the contacts are getting worn or something else electrical is happening behind the scenes, plus there are brand new parts to replace these in the ships inventory waiting for someone like me to install them!!   So this item is now added to the project list.

Because I spent extra time finding the exact spot I had planned on to drop the hook plus the technical problem, we had to work around it so it took us 30 minutes to anchor up.  The work around was to use the pull switches from the fly bridge which Meryl operated on my commands while I set the snubber hook around the chain and placed the anchor where I wanted it.

Meanwhile all’s good, cocktails were served promptly at 1700 hours, the delicious prepared food we bought at Doris Italian Market – Chicken Marsala and fresh string beans with lots of garlic shavings when into the nuker and voila we had a lovely dinner at 1800 complete with some lovely Cote de Rhone!

Tomorrow is only a 45 mile day and Saturday a 35 mile day.  Today was especially tiring because we never sleep well the night before setting out to cruise day 1.  We’re pooped and will probably hit the sack right after it gets dark.

Day Two  was 41 miles as planned (not 45 as previously stated).  We arrived at the planned anchorage at 13:30 and deploying the anchor came off without a hitch.  We have a front row seat for any NASA launch except that none are scheduled.  There was one yesterday apparently and now none until August or September.  We are staring at the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) which is the huge building with the NASA logo prominently displayed on its side that Bruce Willis and all the other space jocks look up at as they’re walking in their space suits holding onto they oxygen suitcase.  It is truly gigantic and I think it would be a awesome sight to see one of those jumbo rockets, let alone a space shuttle take off from here.  Oh well, maybe next time.

There are no other boats here, in this wide open body of water.  There is no protection from any winds (no significant winds are forecast) and we wish there were a stronger breeze because it is unbearably hot.  This could be why no one else is here with us and we’re about six weeks behind our original cruising schedule but life got in the way of the schedule and here we are in the heat of the summer.

Interesting side story I hope doesn’t repeat itself, but a couple of summers ago, Meryl and I did a road trip for 7 weeks from Boca Raton, FL to Southern Maine and everywhere we went it was hotter than in Florida.  I hope history doesn’t repeat itself as we continue to cruise North….ugh….

Day Three only 35 miles.  Below is an interesting shot of a canal that we had to pilot through en route to New Smyrna Beach, and a very unusual bridge.  Notice that only one side opens!

We were told that the entrance to the slip we were assigned was going to be very difficult to get into because of the current that passes by the marina.  Well, not only was the current awful, the slip they assigned to us was too narrow to get into.  Here’s what happened!

That’s the bow pulpit and underneath it, part of our anchor, dug into the piling at the edge of the dock because we couldn’t make the turn. Kokomo was wedged in between two other pilings, one. on each side plus this center one.  It took a few strong guys from the marina to assist.

Above is the stbd side of Kokomo wedged into a piling…ouch…yes, it’s like a fender bender and some day will have to be repaired – probably next March.

This is the port side.  You can see how we were wedged in on both sides and the bow.  It was ugly.

We managed to drop the anchor onto the dock using various tools and lots of muscle, then the guys hoisted the anchor back up onto the boat and used a crow bar to relieve the tension on the bow pulpit so a licensed captain (one of the strong guys) who came aboard to take the controls rocked us out of the slip and into a much wider slip, that we should have been assigned to begin with.  No suffered no major damage, it was shaky going but all ended well.

Until next time…..Kokomo Jim